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Ethical Analysis of Arguments Supporting the Use of Certain Exclusion Criteria in Organ Transplantation

Author

Saint-Arnaud, Jocelyne

Bibliographic Citation

Canadian Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing. 1997; 8(2): 9-12.

Abstract

The author analyses the arguments put forward by Eike Henner Kluge,
in a paper entitled "Drawing the Ethical Line Between Organ Transplantation
and Lifestyle Abuse" (CMAJ, 150 (5), 1994), supporting the idea that nicotine
and alcohol abusers should not have an equal access to organ transplantation.
Referring to an egalitarian justice, Kluge argues that one who has caused
one's bad health condition should not be permitted to compete on the same
basis as other candidates in order to have access to a scarce health care
resource because in doing so one penalizes those who are not responsible for
their bad health condition, diminishing their own chances of obtaining an
available organ. After considering certain empirical facts in scarce health
care resources, particularly in organ transplantation, the author defines the
main characteristics of a just treatment in terms of an equal access to health
care and demonstrates that Kluge's arguments are not supported by an
egalitarian conception of justice. In fact, the proposed distribution of
services is based on individual merit.